youtubetranscriptdev-cli

YouTube Transcript CLI

Terminal-first CLI for extracting YouTube transcripts and working with them quickly.

• transcribe from URL or video ID
• open transcript reader
• chat with AI grounded in transcript content
• browse transcript history
• check credits and plan status

Repository: https://github.com/frivx/youtube-transcript-cli

Installation

npm install -g youtubetranscriptdev-cli

Then run:

youtube-transcript

Or:

yt

Quick Start

• Launch CLI with yt or youtube-transcript.
• Complete setup:
  • YouTube Transcript API key (yt_sk_...)
  • AI provider/model (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini)
  • provider API key
• Paste a YouTube URL on home screen, or run /transcribe <url|id>.

Commands

Command	Description
/transcribe <url|id>	Create transcript
/chat <url|id>	Open transcript chat
/view <url|id>	Open transcript reader
/list	Browse recent transcripts
/status	Show plan and credits
/usage	Alias for /status
/model	Change AI model/provider key
/config	Re-run setup wizard
/help	Show usage hints
/quit	Exit CLI

Environment Variables

API:

• YT_API_KEY or YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
• YT_API_BASE_URL (optional)

AI provider keys:

• OPENAI_API_KEY
• ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
• GEMINI_API_KEY

Config Storage

Configuration is persisted locally via conf:

• Windows: %APPDATA%/youtube-transcript-cli
• macOS: ~/Library/Preferences/youtube-transcript-cli
• Linux: ~/.config/youtube-transcript-cli

Development

npm install
npm run dev

Build:

npm run build

Troubleshooting

• 401/403 from API: check yt_sk_... key in /config.
• AI chat failing: verify selected provider key.
• Empty history: ensure transcript creation completed successfully.

License

MIT